News Archives for August 2006

Hi everyone, we suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure earlier today and lost a LOT of information. We tried to do a recovery using a backup but it didn't work, so we were forced to use a really old backup from January. This means we've lost all forum postings, members, and news since January 2006. We're really sorry for the inconvenience this is causing but we're hoping maybe we can do recovery work on the failed drive to restore everything. The forums are running but they are not working properly. We'll keep you posted, in the meantime please be patient with us!

3dGameMan - "The Tyan Tomcat h1000s Motherboard has lots of excellent features, is stable, and performs very well. This motherboard is based on the socket Broadcom HT-1000 chipset and supports the AMD AM2 and AM2 Opteron 1000 series processors. It accepts up to 8GB of ECC or NON-ECC UNBUFFERED DDR2 memory. It's not an overclocker's motherboard though. Rather, it's intended for the non-tweakers, a workstation, or server environment. Watch the Video to find out more..."

Tech ARP - "Wanna see what the upcoming Microsoft Windows Vista operating system is all about? Then join jwsk as he takes the latest Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 operating system for a ride and more!"

ThinkComputers - "Today I've got the fourth and final review in my series of Revoltec product
reviews, and I've saved the best for last! If you don't recall, I did tell you that Bluegears is now the official US distributor for Revoltec products and they sent me some to check out and give them my opinion on. So today I have to say, I've got myself a new keyboard, a damn cool keyboard actually. I'm retiring my Logitech in favor of the Revoltec Lightboard Advanced. This is one excellent keyboard, it has all the features like multimedia and shortcut keys, but it is much smaller than the standard keyboard. If you ever used a laptop most have the X-structured suspension and they are very comfortable to type on, well Revoltec has brought that comfort to the home, and they included cool blue EL backlighting as well."

CoolTechZone - "Not too long ago, every technology device that we had was tethered by a
cumbersome cord. You no doubt remember the nightmarish task of trying to
organize your mess o' wires so that your desk could look somewhat clean
and presentable, and even with the advancements that have been made today, it's still easy for your desk to go from clean to clutter in 2.5 devices."

AC Ryan News - "When 2 becomes 1 breakthrough that Terabyte barrier!! Combine 2x 500GB harddisks into a 1 Terabyte drive with AluBoxDuo LAN. Got a little less budget? The most affordable way to have a 600GB external drive - combine 2x 300GB harddisk with AluBoxDuo LAN. Whats more, you can stack each AluBox up physically into a tower. Combine up to 8 harddisks into one megadrive using AluBoxDuo LANs "aggregation" feature. Did you know that the AluBoxDuo LAN also does RAID? Mirroring and striping (RAID 0 / 1) are included. Get higher disk speed performance with striping (great for high performance video editing); get max reliability with mirroring. More possibilities than you have imagined - AluBoxDuo LAN !!"

DailyCE - "Apparently Nokia is working on a new phone, the 8800 Sirocco Edition, which will come with a 2.0-megapixel camera and a new keypad. There’s no additional information available on the device, but it appears as though a couple of German online retailers are pre-selling the phones in excess of $1,000. Nokia is mute on the subject."

PCstats - "Most commercial rackmount computer servers use proprietory chassis layouts, with proprietory cooling systems, proprietory hot-swapable drive caddy's and the like. None of which is very helpful if you're intent on building a custom computer server system from off the shelf hardware. A small handful of companies manufacture bare 19" rackmount chassis, and for the purposes of this review PCSTATS will be examining iStar's offering, the D-Storm D300. The iStar D-Storm D300 is a 20.8" deep 3U steel chassis that will accommodate a standard ATX2.0 motherboard, up to four 3.5" hard drives, and four 5.25" devices. The D-Storm D300 features two lockable vented aluminum swing-out doors that protect the drive bays from unauthorized user access (with integral dust filters no less) and two 60mm exhaust fans at the rear for
maintaining reasonable internal case temperatures."

PCstats - "MSI has just released its NX7900GT-VT256E-HD which is HDCP compatible - this is the first HDCP-enabled PCI Express x16 videocard from that company. The MSI NX7900GT-VT2D256E-HD videocard is backed up by 256MB of high speed GDDR3 memory. The videocard supports a whole host of TV output options including S-Video, Composite, Component output (Y, Pb, Pr) and the NX7900GT-VT2D256E-HD is also HDMI compatible if a DVI-to-HDMI cable is used. The videocard supports video input as well, which truely makes the MSI NX7900GT-VT256E-HD one of the best multimedia cards around on paper."

NGOHQ - "he NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the NVIDIA ForceWare
driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with better performance and image quality. The Driver has support for all Geforce cards."

XYZ Computing - "Iriver has been a producer of premium MP3 players for some time now and has gained recognition as being one of the better manufacturers as well as a top competitor to Apple. Iriver is not alone though, and now that there are a lot of companies putting out players there growth of excess stock that can be found for cheap if you are willing to shop around. In this article we will be looking at the T10 MP3 player from Iriver. The T10 is a flash-based player which is available in 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB capacities. Our model, the 1GB player, is the blue model and while it is not the newest player on the market, it has a lot going for it."

WindowsAtoZ - "Seagate is usually known for their hard drives for computers, but now they've
started to release some external backup hard drives with some really big capacities. External backup drives are all the rage right now, so check out WindowsAtoZ.com's review of Seagate's latest external backup drive."

DailyCE - "Alright, if you thought iPod accessories couldn't get any weirder, Atech Flash Technology proves us wrong. Let's see, we have accessories to listen to our beloved iPod music players pretty much everywhere we go, except for one location: the bathroom."

Tweaknews - "The Reserator 1 Plus from Zalman is a niche product, aimed at the silent computing crowd. As such, this product does an excellent job. It's silent, has adequate cooling performance and comes complete with CPU and VGA cooling solutions. The manuals and online support are superb and the kit can be used with a wide variety of hardware."

Virtual-Hideout - "The overall look of the Sapphire Pure CrossFire Advantage is sleek and the layout is done well. The performance with my hardware was flawless and I'm sure with better CPU and RAM the overclocking result would have been much better. If you are looking to upgrade your 939 motherboard, give the Sapphire Pure CrossFire Advantage a shot."

Modders-Inc - "Today we are going to take a look the Mystique 631 mid-tower case by Cooler Master. Cooler Master has been known for their excellent cases for years as well as other products. Their cases are well constructed and provide a high quality case for any type of consumer. The Mystique brings a lot of nice features with it"

Digital Trends - "With HD DVD and Blu-Ray on the horizon, it's no surprise that companies are starting to sell regular DVD players at all-time low prices. Case-in-point is the new Pioneer DV-490V DVD player which can be had for just under a 100 dollars. Now because this is Pioneer s most entry-level DVD player, there are going to be some obvious compromises, which we will cover in this review. Also keep in mind that because DVD technology has been around forever, there are a few treats that come with the DV-490V which you might not expect from a player in this price range."

motherboards.org - "So what is it, you ask, that makes this unit stand out? Apart from everything I've listed above - the stable power, good looks, and handy modular capability - it's just that feeling of security, when working with the beefiest components, the fastest cards, and the highest clocks - that Mushkins got your back, and no matter how hard you push the plate, this units just not going to quit."

TheTechZone - "Imagine going on lunch date where you don't talk to your partner. Instead,
you communicate via IM from your notebook to her. Sounds crazy? Well, it's
happening more than you think. As a matter of fact, this is happening so
often that a new term has been given for it; Couple-surfing."

motherboards.org - "Though it didn't have the most stellar results coming out of the gate, or the most comforting design, Cooler Masters eXtreme Power Duo 650W is a fairly good buy for the price. Generally, it seems to be a power supply for gamers on the go - its compact size and light weight will help it to fit into any system, though its lack of expansion options is slightly disappointing."

Gamepyre - "Source definitely doesn't disappoint. Though its hard to be too original with the same World War 2 type of game this game is really successful in creating fun and exciting battles. Once you figure it out, knowing what your team needs when and where they need it is what you will be thinking about once you have this game under your belt. No real fluff or confusion here, just a smart, solid shooter."

Maximum CPU - "Let’s face it; hard drive enclosures represent one sector of the computer industry in which innovative products are few and far between. The Vizo Paragon 2.5” HDD enclosure is not one of those products, but it looks nice and is manufactured to the highest quality standards."

OSWeekly - "All of you who are reading this article right now are doing so with the help of an operating system. Of course, if you're reading it on paper, then that you may not think that that's the case, although it had to be printed by a printer that was connected to a computer which was operated by an operating system, right?"

OSWeekly - "No matter how confident a company may be about the products and services that they offer, there's just no excuse for thinking that the user experience is going to be perfect. I know you believe in your product, but you have to be able to convince others that you have something worth using, too."

ThinkComputers.org - "When it comes to transferring large files your basic thumb drives will not cut it. Now you could get an external hard drive that you could take to and from work, but you have to plug it in, set it up, etc. Icy Dock has a better solution, how about a drive bay that you can easily swap out drives? Well today we are looking at the MB122 drive enclosure from Icy Dock and its just that. Plus Icy Dock has added some cool features like an LCD, temperature sensor and more!"

Virtual-Hideout.net - "The Thermaltake 700 Watt Toughpower is a formidable power supply that will easily provide plenty of power for any extreme gamer or power user. It is a well designed, attractive power supply that has all the stable characteristics that one would expect from a 700 Watt power supply. If you want ample power, and greater stability and efficiency, dont hesitate to make this PSU your final choice."

Driverheaven.net - "In the past we have reviewed several Antec products here on Driver Heaven and we have been very pleased with their high quality and top notch performance. Now the time has come to the Antec P150, this case comes from the same family as the P160 and the P180 previously reviewed here on DH, the Performance One series..."

The TechZone - "Reviewers said the sequel Dead Mans Chest would be a bomb. It racked up record ticket sales in its first 10 days $258.2 million. MPAA said pirates stole more than $70 million from them in the same period. Their solution -- put the biggest, baddest safe around their treasures imaginable with double, nay triple locks to keep the low-lifes out."

CoolTechZone - "The Apple that we know and love (well, some of us) is very different than the Apple of yesteryear. In the past, the Macintosh received the most attention from its parental unit, and thats because competition and the newness of the personal computer kept everyone enthralled."

E3 Gaming Expo to Reemerge Soon @ DailyCE.com - "E3 is not dead, at least not according to a recent press release issued by CEA, the organizers of the world s largest CE industry tradeshow, CES. After an unfortunate death of E3 as the most vocal gaming tradeshow in the world, CEA is looking to develop a gaming show of its own to compliment CES."

OSWeekly - "Word on the street is that many businesses are simply not interested in Vista. The Seattle PI ran a recent piece that explains how many companies have decided early on that they are not really interested in dealing with the likelihood of a fresh set of Windows Updates."

PC Apex - "I couldn t get the smile off my face when I received the invitation to review this piece of gear. The not yet released in the US Philips 190G6 19" LCD monitor. I d seen some promotional pictures of it and heard this was touted to be a great monitor for gaming and I really wanted to see what the hype was all about. I m one of the fortunate people who already has LCD monitors at home (I actually use two, side by side) and have become accustomed to the benefits afforded by their brightness and space-saving design. I did a lot of research in choosing the monitors I use, as not all LCD s are created equal there s a raft of features that determine whether the monitor is good for gaming, movie watching, or just plain word processing. I was hoping that the former would be true in this case not the latter."

c|net - "A protective feature in Windows is locking out the good guys, but letting in a lot of bad guys, according to security software makers. Microsoft designed PatchGuard to safeguard core parts of Windows, including Vista, against malicious code attacks. But some security companies say that the feature makes it harder for them to protect Windows PCs, as it locks them out of the kernel, the core of the operating system."

c|net - "The battle between two hyped formats for high-definition DVD will confuse shoppers and turn many of them off the whole technology, a London-based research firm predicted on Friday. Market research analyst Screen Digest also forecast that only $11 billion of the total $39 billion expected to be spent on video discs by 2010 in the United States, Europe and Japan will be generated by the competing high-definition formats, Sony-backed Blu-ray and Toshiba-supported HD DVD. "The net result of the format war and the publicity it has generated will be to dampen consumer appetite for the whole high-definition disc category," Screen Digest analyst Ben Keen said."

c|net - "IBM researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have demonstrated a single-molecule device capable of repeatedly storing and retrieving data. Described in the Aug. 4 issue of nanotech journal Small Times, the device is a surprisingly simple organic compound that can be set to high or low resistance through electrical pulses. In the lab, it reliably retained its ability to change states over many hours and more than 500 tests, which the researchers described in the paper as "a remarkable result for a single-molecule system.""

It turns out that our registration system is broken because the validation image is not being shown. We are working on the issue and hope to have it fixed shortly. If you register and it does not work, just wait for an update on here for news on when its fixed. You can also contact Bosco at [email protected] and he can assist you and manually add you to the site.

****Update ok it appears to be working again let Bosco know if you have any trouble.

3dGameMan - "ECC memory is not something most will purchase since the majority of consumer motherboards dont require it. Fact is, most will purchase Non-ECC memory for its lower price and overclocking potential. ECC memory is in a category all its own, and is really the only choice though when building a reliable server. Servers typically process tremendous amounts of data in RAM. Therefore, this memory has to be error free, something non-ECC memory cant do. Errors in memory on mission critical servers could cause the entire computer to lockup.."

Maximum CPU - "Internal hard drive enclosures are a must-have for anyone who frequently swaps out hard drive or requires hot-swappable hard drives. They also allow for added storage capacity when all of the 3.5 bays in a case are used. Today we are going to take a look at ICY DOCK s new SATA internal enclosure, the MB122."

c|net - "Apple Computer said on Friday that Nasdaq has notified the company that it believes the Mac maker is not in compliance with the exchanges rules and faces delisting. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company, which has delayed its quarterly filing pending an inquiry into stock option grant irregularities, said it has requested a hearing and will remain listed on the exchange pending that hearing. Stay tuned for more details."

[Phoronix] - "The second Beta for GNOME 2.16.0 is now out. GNOME 2.15.91 marks the API/ABI, feature, string, and UI freeze in the GNOME 2.16.0 candidate. We had used GARNOME with GNOME 2.16.0 Beta 2 and now have some visuals today showing a portion of the improvements in GNOME 2.16."

Overclockers Online - "The OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply was not OCZs first power supply offering and likely won't be the last but the GameXStream line did seem to improve on the high quality that their PowerStream and ModStream power supplies toughed despite coming from a different manufacturer this time around. I think OCZ has another winner on its hands with the GameXStream as it has proven to stand up to the abuse and show no signs of slowing down any time soon."

pcstats - "Seasonic's flagship power supply this summer is the S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT 650W model. From what we've seen thus far, this power supply should fit nicely into the same category as PC Power & Cooling. The Seasonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT 650W is SLI certified, and that itself should be a sign of what's to come. It is fully ATX 2.0 compatible and has an energy efficiency rating above 80%. According to the Seasonic label, the +3.3V line can deliver a maximum of 24Amps while the +5V rail can deliver 30Amps. Total output for the +3.3V and +5V rails is 170W. There are four +12V rails on the SS-650HT and each can deliver a maximum of 18Amps apiece with total power output of 455W."

c|net - "Carriers have barely rolled out their new third-generation wireless networks, and they're already talking about the fourth generation, which could offer affordable high-speed Internet access for consumer electronics devices on the go."

c|net - "Helped by low pricing, Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare landed the No. 2 spot in sales at American stores in its debut month. The antivirus and PC care package nabbed 15.4 percent of security suite sales at retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon.com, according to NPDs data."

c|net - "Apple Computer, which has delayed a quarterly regulatory filing amid a stock-options accounting probe, said Friday that it has received a letter from Nasdaq warning that it's not in compliance with the exchanges rules."

c|net - "Computer code that takes advantage of a serious Windows flaw has been published on the Internet, increasing the chance of a worm attack. The release of the attack code, which exploits a security hole in a Windows component related to file and printer sharing, also raises the urgency to patch."

c|net - "A U.S. Department of Transportation laptop with personal information on 133,000 Florida residents has been stolen, exposing the data to identity fraud. The computer was taken from a government-owned vehicle on July 27 in the Miami area, the agency said in a statement Wednesday."

c|net - "Forensic experts say they are studying how text messages could be linked to crimes. In a bid to make better use of the data mobile phones contain, psychologists at the University of Leicester in England are researching how individuals can be identified by their texting style."